Health Highlights: April 5, 2017

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

FDA Nominee Gottlieb to Face Questions About Industry Links

The nominee to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is likely to face questions about his significant financial links to medical companies when he appears before a Senate committee.

Government data show Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who has denounced what he refers to as unnecessary FDA regulations, received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting or other fees from several FDA-regulated companies in recent years, the Associated Press reported.

Last week, Gottlieb filed ethics documents pledging that if confirmed as FDA chief, he would recuse himself for a year from decisions involving about 20 companies, including GlaxoSmithKline. Gottlieb is a member of the company's portfolio investment board.

Gottlieb is a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, holds positions in a venture capital firm and an investment bank, and serves as a board member or consultant to nine health-related companies, the AP reported.

In his ethics filings, Gottlieb said if confirmed as head of the FDA, he would resign from those positions and divest himself of financial interests in other companies.